CLA applies for Extended Collective Licensing
IFRRO's RRO member, Copyright Licensing Agency (CLA), has recently applied to the UK Government to operate an Extended Collective Licensing Scheme (ECL).
In 2014, the UK Government introduced the Copyright and Rights in Performances (Extended Collective Licensing) Regulations. These Regulations enable collective management organisations, such as CLA, to apply to operate an Extended Collective Licensing scheme. The ECL enables licensing bodies that represent a significant number of rightsholders belonging to the same class, to extend their licences to cover unrepresented rightsholders in the same class.
CLA's application for authorisation to operate an ECL scheme was submitted with the full support of their members: the Authors' Licensing and Collecting Scheme (ALCS), Publishers' Licensing Services (PLS), the Design and Artists Copyright Society (DACS), and the Picture Industry Collecting Society for Effective Licensing (PICSEL). A Government consultation on the application has been launched and can be found here.
If the above mentioned application is accepted, the ECL will formalise CLA's rights position and enhance transparency for both rightsholders and users.
For more information, please see CLA's press release.